Alberto Tidu (p), Stefano Usai, Luigi Apuzzo

Silvia Balia

The role of trade openness in enhancing growth has always been one of the most important and debated economic issues. The last decades have undoubtedly seen a tendency towards open economies, resulting in any form of (even partial) autarchy having become less and less prevalent in most of the world. One could easily see how organisms of any type - from the International Monetary Fund to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and from the World Trade Organization to the European Union - strongly act in accordance to the belief that more openness leads to higher economic growth. However, scholars have not reached a consensus on the matter yet, and evidence has so far produced mixed results. As regional economists, we believe that such indecision might depend to the large geographic scope that one is forced to deal with when the focus is on country, rather than regions.
In this paper, we use the Joint Research Committee's own RHOMOLO database to investigate how trade impacts growth when it is integrated in a standard Solow model, consisting of GDP, capital stock and human capital. RHOMOLO database allows us to differentiate trade with other domestic regions from trade with other countries that belong to the European Union and from the rest of the world. This distinction immediately appears necessary when one acknowledges that about 60% of out-of-region trade in Europe originates from or is directed to other regions that belong to the same country. Our results indeed indicate that not only this type of trade is not as conducive to growth as trade with other countries is, but that it might actually be detrimental to the region’s economic welfare. Even trading outside of one’s own country is not homogeneous in its effects on growth, and trading with countries outside the European Union seems to have a much stronger impact than trading with fellow members. These results are robust when import and export are analyzed separately and when the temporal range is extended, even covering peculiar times such as throughout the pandemic acute phase in 2020 and 2021.

Roberta Capello, Silvia Cerisola (p)

Alberto Tidu

Despite the large attention given to regional inequalities, a theoretical approach simultaneously linking the inter and intra- regional development processes over time is still missing. A vast set of empirical analyses on inter-regional income inequalities indeed exists. In most cases it witnesses the existence of the famous Williamson’s inverted U-shaped relation between GDP per capita and inter-regional income inequalities. A much more limited literature has studied the same relationship at the intra-regional level. Our claim in this paper is that a double bell theory must be formulated in which the two processes are interlinked, and the influence that one exerts over the other highlighted to better understand the concurrent evolution of inter and intra-regional income inequalities. Empirical evidence is provided for such an approach for what concerns European regions.

Emanuela Marrocu (p), Raffaele Paci, Luca Serafini (p)

Silvia Cerisola

This study investigates the integration of digitalisation and environmental sustainability in the EU’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) during the 2014-2020 period in the context of the European Green Deal. It examines how these ‘twin transitions’ are incorporated into regional development strategies across EU regions. The research gains significance against the backdrop of the European Green Deal, an ambitious EU strategy aiming for a sustainable and inclusive transition to a green economy. By focusing on the challenges of digitalisation and sustainability, the study extends S3 strategy analysis to encompass these modern concerns, aligning with the Green Deal’s objectives. This approach is essential for understanding the strategic integration necessary for the resilience, competitiveness and even growth of EU regions. The methodology includes detailed text analysis of S3 documents from different EU regions, identifying references to digital and sustainable initiatives. This qualitative analysis is complemented by spatial econometric methods to explore how the twin transition strategies are related to spatial and income inequalities across EU regions. Data sources include publicly available S3 documents and EU databases, enabling a multi-dimensional analysis of the twin transitions within S3 frameworks. The findings aim to offer insights for policymakers and stakeholders, advocating for a balanced approach to integrating digital and sustainable strategies in line with the Green Deal’s vision. Overall, this research contributes to the academic discourse and offers practical guidance for regional development. It underscores the importance of incorporating the twin transition as a central component of development strategies in EU regions, resonating with the objectives of the Green Deal. The study’s implications extend beyond the EU, providing valuable lessons for global regional development, particularly in areas where digital and sustainable transitions are increasingly important.

Silvia Balia (p), Rinaldo Brau, Sara Pau

Emanuela Marrocu

This paper investigates the population-wide health effects of the amalgamation of local health authorities in Italy. We focus on the evolution of municipality-level mortality in the years 2002-2018. We exploit the within-municipality variation over time and the staggered adoption of the consolidation reform in different years by using an event study design in which we control for heterogeneous treatment effects over time and across municipalities. In the medium long-term, the reform led to an average increase of the overall mortality rate. Potential mechanisms are unfolded by considering mortality rates for different age groups, leading causes of death and gender. [see extended abstract]